Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Bukavu (Agenzia Fides)- The International Red Cross has voiced deep concern for abuse and violence committed in South Kivu in the east of Democratic Congo. “The International Red Cross Committee is deeply concerned at reports of abuse against civilians, mainly women and children” said Patrick Walder, head of the International Red Cross delegation in Bukavu, main city of South Kivu.
The organisation has launched an operation to assist 15,000 displaced persons forced to abandon their villages because of violence by armed gangs in the area despite a peace agreement which ended to civil war in Congo and neighbouring countries. The refugees are mainly in Kaniola, 60 km east of Bukavu.
The International Red Cross says that over 55,000 people in the region need assistance.
On June 22 the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affiars issued a statement in which it said that persisting fighting in South Kivu was a serious obstacle to operations to assist the local people.
The alarm raised by these international bodies joins the voice of the Catholic Archbishop of Bukavu, Francois-Xavier Maroy, who in recent weeks has repeatedly called for a decisive intervention on the part of the central government and the UN authorities to prevent the situation from degenerating and leading to a new outbreak of civil war. The Bishops of the Kivu regional also expressed concern for the lack of security following a massacre in Kaniola (see Fides 4 June 2007). (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 3/7/2007 righe 30 parole 294)
